June 17, 2008

A Smithfield man has sued Fayette County Children and Youth Services on Monday, claiming that the agency had no right to remove his children – ages 5, 6 and 8 – from him in 2006.

A caseworker took the children from the 29-year-old man’s home during an investigation into his relationship with a 16-year-old girl who sometimes baby-sat the children.

The man, referred to as John Doe in the suit, and the 16-year-old, identified only as K.K., both told a CYS caseworker that they waited until she was 16 to have a physical relationship, according to the suit, filed in federal court in Pittsburgh. The age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16.

Also filed was a request for a temporary restraining order that would return Doe’s children to him.

The suit, filed by American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania attorney Sara Rose, indicated the man never was accused of abusing his own children, and asks a judge to order their immediate return.

“My kids are my whole life and I just want them back,” Doe is quoted as saying in an ACLU-issued press release about the suit.

Rose said that CYS “abused its power to place children in state custody by removing these children from their father, even though the children never have been abused and are in no danger of abuse.

“As a result, Doe has had no contact with his children for almost a year, and has not lived with his children for almost two years. That is time with his children that he will never get back,” Rose said.

The children have lived with Doe’s parents since September 2006, and Doe has had no communication with them since August 2007.

“Even parents convicted of abusing their children often are allowed more contact with their children than plaintiff,” Rose contended in the suit.

According to the filing, Doe got involved with K.K. in 2006, after she turned 16.

K.K. also acted as a baby sitter for the Doe children, according to the complaint, and Doe and K.K. have known one another “for a number of years through family connections.”

The suit indicated that Doe and K.K. “deliberately waited” until K.K. turned 16 to initiate a sexual relationship because they called the Crime Victims Center of Fayette County to inquire about the age of consent in Pennsylvania.

K.K.’s mother found out about the relationship and called police in September 2006, Rose indicated.

“The police declined to press charges against plaintiff because engaging in a consensual sexual relationship with a 16-year-old is not a crime under Pennsylvania law,” Rose wrote.

The legal standards that police and CYS apply to cases differ.

K.K.’s mother also contacted CYS, the suit alleged, and a caseworker initiated an investigation. During that investigation, they both admitted to having a sexual relationship after K.K. turned 16, according to the complaint.

In November 2006, a letter from CYS informed Doe that the agency had determined there was “substantial evidence” that he sexually abused K.K. Doe appealed in January 2007, the suit indicated. The state Department of Public Welfare heard the appeal in November 2007, and has not yet rendered a decision.

The suit indicated a caseworker called Doe on Sept. 22, 2006, and asked if there was anywhere his three children could stay during a 60-day CYS investigation into the investigations into the allegations that he abused K.K.

If there was nowhere for the children to stay, the caseworker told Doe that they would have to go into foster care, the suit alleged.

Doe sent the children to stay with his parents, according to the suit. He was allowed supervised visits by CYS, the suit indicated, and visited with them daily until Aug. 1, 2007.

That day, another caseworker came to Doe’s parents’ home with two state troopers and said she believed he was having unsupervised visits with his children.

That caseworker threatened to remove the Doe children unless plaintiff’s mother signed a plan that forbade Doe’s parents from allowing the children to have any contact with the plaintiff, the suit alleged.

Neither caseworker told Doe or his mother what their rights were, Rose alleged.

On Aug. 2, 2007, a third caseworker told Doe’s mother that he could not talk to his children unless he completed a sex-offender treatment program.

Doe indicated in the suit that he attended one sex-offender class, but stopped after learning that one of the requirements was admitting that he was a perpetrator of sexual abuse.

“Plaintiff refuses to state that he is a perpetrator of sexual abuse, as he disputes defendants’ claim that his relationship with K.K. constituted sexual abuse under the law and contests defendants’ contention that he is a perpetrator as that term is defined in the Child Protective Services Act,” the suit stated.

The suit indicated that CYS closed the case and indicated that it is the agency’s policy that because Doe is believed to be a sexual abuser that he cannot have any contact with his children.

Doe, according to the suit, is the children’s’ legal guardian since June 2005, when he and their mother separated. Their mother has been a psychiatric patient at Torrance State Hospital in Torrance since February 2008.

U.S. District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose has been assigned the case. ..News Source.. by Jennifer Harr, Herald-Standard

To julian, love, your real mummy, joni-faith: of family saloom; and also dedicated to the real mommies and daddies of the real america and our children who want to come home

You learned to speak so well when you were so little. You always wanted to practice on the telephone. Mommy’s friends and Grandma Sue said how gifted you were, already. Some people couldn’t understand why Mommy never had time to talk on the phone, or even to answer the phone, when we were together. We were always together. You were always more important, and I couldn’t and never wanted to leave you for a second. I was too scared someone might kidnap you. And they did. I love you.

Grandma Sue Holding Mommy, 1978, Grove City, Pennsylvania

4 years old, Jacob really wanted to meet you. He had your picture that we sent him in the mail hanging over his Thomas the Train bed. He also loved Thomas the Train. He is just about one year younger than you. Jacob didn’t even know what a Wii or Nintendo or video games are because his mommy, like your mommy, thought they were not good for children who would naturally want to play them all the time instead of learning about other things.

MOMMY, OCTOBER 1978, GROVE CITY, PENNSYLVANIA

Shhhh, the Baby’s Sleeping.

Baby Julian Sleeping in the Beautiful Bassinet that Mummy Ordered Special for You

Baby Julian

Dear Julian, these are your maternal great-grandparents, Grandma Sue’s mommy and daddy. I thought you might enjoy knowing more about them when you got a little bigger, and are hopefully able to find this site. Can you imagine having thirteen brothers and sisters and living on a farm in Western Pennsylvania? Your Pappy “Red” did. He worked for the same steel company his entire adult life. Grandma Nancy didn’t work, but she went to college after all five of her children were grown and became a kindergarten teacher at a private Christian school. Grandma Nancy was a good wife, mother, and above all else, she was devoted to the Lord. She walked the walk. She always taught Sunday school at church. Mommy went with her on Sundays when I was little and still lived in Pennsylvania. Mommy was always at Grandma and Pappy’s house and at Grandma Mary and Puppup’s house playing and visiting. Grandma Nancy was adopted because her real mother would have had sixteen children including Grandma! Whoa!!! That is truly unbelievable to me. Back in the old days, however, having many children was very common, almost necessary, in times when a lot of people had farms and lots of chores in which the entire family shared and enjoyed the fruits of their labor. I think it would have been fun in some ways to get to take care of all the animals. You would be a great little helper, you always were. Although Grandma Nancy loved her adopted mommy and daddy, she always felt a hole in her soul that God filled because she didn’t have her real mommy. I hope she can see how wonderful you turned out! Grandma Nancy and Pappy were married for over fifty (50) years! Whoa, again! This is how life used to work, and the way things used to be for most families. They were very blessed to have found one another and to have had five healthy children who all had healthy grandchildren.

Finally, one of these things wasn’t broken!

Mommy used to love to play with Hot Wheel and Matchbox cars, and with everything Barbie and girlie when she was little. You also loved to play with Hot Wheels. I used to put them in your secret mailbox. Puppup used to have a secret drawer at his house for me, too, for whenever I would come and visit.

“Don’t get any big idea’s, Buster!” I’m only doing this to wear the pretty dress and carry the flowers. “Besides, kid, I work alone.” And I don’t smile on demand for pictures!